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Peter Venkman
"I'll go to Miss. Barrett's apartment and check her out.....I'll go check out Mrs. Barrett's apartment, okay?" Dr. Peter Venkman is one of the original Ghostbusters. He has doctorates in both psychology and parapsychology. Personality Peter is portrayed as the "lazy" Ghostbuster. He doesn't usually take his work seriously, is very sarcastic and flirts with women, including clients such as Dana Barrett. While Peter is a scientist, he isn't as experienced or academically inclined as Egon and Ray, and also tends to be more aggressive when fighting ghosts. Peter also slacks off on experiments and usually focuses on the women, as in the first movie he is testing sixth senses and shocks the boy in the experiment for getting the answers wrong (even though he was really getting a majority of them right) and leaves the girl alone (even though nearly all her answers were wrong). Peter is also a very outspoken person, as he back talked to the representative of the EPA, Walter Peck, and got him angry about the Storage Facility. This as a result led to the Containment Unit being shut down and all the ghosts escaping over New York. His fast talking, however "bargained" the percentage from the broker they consulted in leasing the firehouse to them. As well as their first $5,000 made busting Slimer, and Ms. Barrett's "petty cash". Work at the University While he was employed by the University, Dr. Venkman was not very interested in the paranormal research that Dr. Spengler and Dr. Stantz were concerned with. He was a scientist by trade, but didn't seem to identify himself as a scientist. His experimental methodology was highly criticized by Dean Yager, who told him in no uncertain terms that he was a "poor scientist." He admitted in the novelization of Ghostbusters II even his high school grad class voted him "Most Likely to Become a Gameshow Host". Ray and Pete, while there, often shared the same bottle of gin in private and usually borrowed each other's videocassettes when documenting their findings for research. History Ghostbusters Peter Venkman was a professor working with Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz at the New York University. The three of them were researching the supernatural, but unlike his partners, Peter wasn't as enthusiastic about the supernatural. The three of them discovered the the librarian ghost, but were unable to catch and show her off to the public. The three of them were soon fired from University after their funding was cut, though Peter seemed happy to look for new opportunities, whatever they may be. After being fired, the three of them decided to build some advanced paranormal equipment and go into a career of freelance ghost catching. Peter encouraged and prodded Ray to mortgage his house in order to find the capital needed to purchase the Firehouse. Whether motivated by the prospect of becoming rich or just the fact that he no longer had to work under the thumb of the board of regents, Dr. Venkman was very motivated to begin a new career. Peter soon became the first to meet the company's first client, Dana Barrett and formed a romantic interest. Dana had claimed that there was another dimension within her fridge, though Peter could not find any such thing. After that incident, Peter and his team sat around the firehouse bored, until their Secretary Janine got a call. Peter and his team came to a hotel, where Peter came face to face with the ghost that would one day become known as Slimer. Peter was slimed during his first encounter with the ghost, which Ray greatly praised as "actual physical contact." Peter and his team eventually captured the ghost, which soon made them popular and busy around town with other ghosts. Peter soon met Walter Peck, who got angry that Peter refused to show him the Storage facility. Peter soon formed a relationship with Dana, but it was soon interuppted when Dana started acting strange and floating in the air. Peter soon learned from Egon that he her building was built on top of an ancient ritual ground and she was being possessed by Zuul, the Gatekeeper of Gozer. After Peck returned and shut down the Containment Unit, the ghosts all escaped and Peter and the other Ghostbusters were tried for illegal use of radiation. Peter however convinced the judge that the evil god Gozer was coming to destroy the city and the Ghostbusters were allowed to go to the top of Dana's building. They are soon escorted to the building as a dark cloud starts to cover the entire city. The Ghostbusters make it to the top of the building, but are too late to stop Zuul and Vince Clortho from releasing the evil Gozer. The Ghostbusters confront Gozer in the form of the Stay Puft Marshmellow Man (which Ray had been thinking of). Peter and his team then cross their streams and force the door to Gozer's dimension close, destroying the Marshmellow Man in a blaze of flames and saving the city. Ghostbusters II Despite saving the town from Gozer, the Ghostbusters were put out of business due to being sued for all the damage that was done during the battle. Peter became the host of a psychic reality show. He and his teammates however got back into business after saving the judge from the Scoleri Brothers. While his teammates discovered a river of slime underneath the city, Peter tried to renew his relationship with Dana, whose baby was being targeted by the ghost lord Vigo. Peter and his team in the end defeated Vigo and saved the city once again. Ghostbusters: The Video Game ]] Peter Venkman Animated Series After the fall of Gozer, Peter and the other Ghostbusters fixed up the firehouse after it was severely damaged by the escaping ghosts. Upon the completion of the firehouse, the Ghostbusters adopted the green ghost who had slimed Peter (now known as Slimer) as a pet mascot. Though Peter at first wouldn't forgive the little ghost for their encounter at the hotel, he soon grew to love him like the rest of the Ghostbusters. While on the team, Peter acted as the leader of the Ghostbusters, deciding when they would take the case. He was also would blackmail Egon at times to learn what he was up to and was always out to spread the word of the Ghostbusters (and himself). As a result, he was usually the butt of the Ghostbusters' pranks and always pushed to go in to dangerous missions that the others didn't want to do. Throughout the years, Peter worked with his team to recapture all the escaped ghosts and a number of new and dangerous ones that popped up around town. Peter helped capture such villains as the Boogieman, Samhain, the Grundel and many others that opposed the Ghostbusters. Peter's mom had died when he was real young . His father was named Charlie Venkman, an unsuccessful con artist. Charlie was a lousy father and wasn't there for him, off making one scam after another. This caused a rift between him and his son. Peter often spend Christmas alone. Trivia *Bill Murray is rumored to have ad-libbed his dialog heavily. *This is also one of the films often cited as Murray's best comedic performance. *Murray refused to perform in any trilogies of any film, hence explaining why Ghostbusters 3 was never made. *Bill Murray played Peter Venkman in the live Ghostbusters films while Lorenzo Music played Peter Venkman in the animated series. Music also played the famous Garfield in the Garfield animated series, while Murray played Garfield in the live action films. *According to the novelization, Peter put himself through college working as a Barker at Coney Island. This is where he honed his con artistry skill. * Peter has degrees in Parapsychology and psychology. Peter makes more use out of his Psychology degree as evidenced by the ease with which he can smooth talk people towards his own ends. If Ray is the heart of the Ghostbuster, Peter is the mouth. * Peter seems to regard his status as a doctor and scientist primarily as something to flaunt and impress people with. Some are fairly skeptical about it due to his decidedly unprofessional demeanor. Dana in particular said he was more like a game show host than a scientist. Peter himself regards other scientists as usually being pretty stiff. * Peter's line, "Back off, man! I'm a scientist," became a popular slogan after the movie was released. Later it was changed (for children's t-shirts and other memorabilia) to, "I'm a (Real) Ghostbuster." *Peter Griffin, television patriarch to the animated series "Family Guy" wears Venkman's uniform with "Peter" on the nametag. He gag references Dana Barrett/Zuul in the cut away scene to 2007's "Road to Rupert". Category: Major character Category:Ghostbusters II Category:Ghostbusters: TVG Characters Category:Ghostbusters Movie Characters